First published in 1990, Brookline: The Evolution of an American Jewish Suburb explores how Brookline became home to one of America's most vibrant Jewish communities.

For over a century, Brookline, Massachusetts, was one of the oldest and most elite suburbs in America. By the end of the Second World War, its transformation into a distinctly Jewish suburb had begun. Through the use of sociological oral history, the book seeks to present the social world of Brookline Jews as they experienced it. Combined with a variety of documentary resources, such as newspapers and congregational "bulletins", it contextualises the accounts of the informants consulted to provide both factual and ethnographic validation and a detailed insight into the process by which this elite Yankee suburb became a core Jewish community.

Bruce A. Phillips is Professor of Sociology and Jewish Communal Service at Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion.

First published in 1990, Brookline: The Evolution of an American Jewish Suburb explores how Brookline became home to one of America's most vibrant Jewish communities.

For over a century, Brookline, Massachusetts, was one of the oldest and most elite suburbs in America. By the end of the Second World War, its transformation into a distinctly Jewish suburb had begun. Through the use of sociological oral history, the book seeks to present the social world of Brookline Jews as they experienced it. Combined with a variety of documentary resources, such as newspapers and congregational "bulletins", it contextualises the accounts of the informants consulted to provide both factual and ethnographic validation and a detailed insight into the process by which this elite Yankee suburb became a core Jewish community.

1: Jewish Migration from Boston to Brookline; 2: Occupational mobility and the move to Brookline; 3: Moving into and moving through Brookline; 4: Two Synagogues; 5: The Ohabei Shalom Brotherhood: A case study in acculturation; 6: Jews and Gentiles; 7: Brookline in the post war period